Flirt

-flirt: a story-

-flirt: a story-

Once upon a time, there was a little girl whose parents loved her very dearly. They had approved of everything she did, but they were quite controlling. They made all her decisions for her, because they thought that this was best choice, and that this was good parenting.

You see, this couple was very young and naïve, well learned in the arts of business, but not in the ways of raising a child. Gradually their oppressive decisions made the little girl very bitter towards her parents, and she grew to hate them. Well, maybe not hate, but a strong dislike festered deep within her heart.

As she reached her teenage years, she met a boy who seemed to understand her plight. For he had parents just like her own. They laughed together, played together, walked to school together, went and did everything together. And eventually, they fell in love.

At least, as close to love as two adolescents, without any knowledge about the outside world, could be. Everything was going perfectly.

And all of a sudden,

He was gone.

In the blink of an eye, leaving the poor girl distraught and in tears, sobbing herself to sleep every night. Her parents didn't understand, and they ostracized her, becoming the cold, distant people that they were now.

Yes, that was right. That little girl, the hurt child whose first love had left her in the cold, icy dirt, had grown up. And she wasn't about to bend to the will of that boy again.

There was no way in hell that was happening.

~flirt~

"What are you doing here?" she whispered harshly to the green eyed boy, who stared at her with equal parts amusement and surprise.

Ana tried hard not to let her eyes wander too far across his body, but she couldn't help it. He was too familiar to her. His shoulders were broader than she remembered, and the dark suit that he wore clung to his build in just the right places. His jaw line was defined, and the sooty lashes framed his eyes perfectly. Too perfectly.

She closed her eyes, feeling her entire body shutting down. This was not happening to her right now. This definitely topped her list of 'worst nights' or 'chance encounters'. And she'd had way too many of those.

This was incredibly horrible. Desperately, she glanced around the ballroom, praying for someone to come rescue her. On second thought, Ana wanted everyone to stay away, because she really didn't want to explain who this certain person was.

"You're just not going to say anything, are you?" his husky voice was just how she recalled it, and it stirred unwanted emotions in her.

She tried to calm them and push them back down into the dark box she had locked them into. Don't lose your composure now, Ana, she coached herself. "Actually, I did say something. I asked what you were doing here," her voice was so icy, it could freeze hell over.

"That's not really your problem, is it?" he shrugged casually, causing his hair to fall messily in his eyes, blocking the intense green gaze shot at her.

Ana took a few deep breaths. "Not my problem?" her voice came out steadier than she thought it would, surprising her. "I would think that it's exactly my problem. Now, answer my question. Why are you here?" she enunciated every word carefully, making sure that he understood her perfectly.

"So cold," he teased, seemingly unaffected by her mood.

"What's wrong with you?" Ana was literally this close to slapping him and making a scene in front of all these distinguished people.

"The better question is, what's wrong with you? You've changed, a lot," he murmured, brushing a hand across her cheek softly.

She fought hard to not let the butterflies invade her stomach. God, these infernal creatures need to be murdered, she thought venomously. Tears were starting to gather in her eyes, not because she was upset, but because she was just so frustrated. At least, that's what she told herself. Her heart hadn't completely bought that statement yet.

"Really? You don't say so?" Ana got sassy when she was frustrated and hurt, and she knew it. She couldn't help it. "Wait, let me think about this. Oh, I know, maybe the reason I fucking changed was because you were the boy who left me without turning back, without ever saying why you left me. Right, does that refresh your memory a little?"

She turned, about to make her dramatic exit, when he grabbed her arm. Her composure slipped slightly. "A," he said, softly.

Her heart beat once, slowly, stuttered, and picked up its pace again.

"Stop, Seth. Stop. I can't do this anymore, okay? Don't make me go through this again. If you really loved me before, just let me go. Let me go," she begged, tears blurring in her eyes, catching in her dark lashes.

"A," he repeated, looking down at her with an indiscernible emotion in his eyes, before gathering her in a hug.

Ana tried to fight it, but he was too strong for her. Succumbing to his embrace, she melted in his arms and sobbed. She allowed herself ten seconds of venting, then pushed him away and dried her eyes. "Leave," she steeled her voice.

Seth watched her sadly, but turned on his heel, mouthing one last thing to her.

And that was what broke her. Those four, stupid little words.

~flirt~

Collapsing on her large, downy bed, Ana peeled off her long dress, tossing it messily in a corner of the room. At this point, she didn't care anymore. She didn't care about anything, it seemed.

She was so broken, no one could fix her.

"The girls with the prettiest smiles hide the most underneath," she said out loud.

How true that was. And how fitting it was. The only thing that Ana could strive for now was winning the game. But even that held no appeal to her anymore.

At first, she had only started playing because she thought it could help her move on. But seeing him here, again, had shaken all of her reasons into rubble, and she honestly could not figure out why she thought this had been a good idea in the first place.

Anger at Jake bubbled slowly in her body. "If he hadn't ripped up my ticket and decided to bring the entire freaking Nobilis with him on this vacation, I could have dealt with this entire issue by myself. But now they're going to ask me who he is, and god, this is such a mess."

She was having a meltdown, throwing pillows at the walls and running her hand through her already destroyed updo. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and sat in the middle of the bed, drying desperately to calm down.

"You can do this, Ana," she coached herself. "Don't be unreasonable. You've worked so hard to get here, and you're not going to destroy everything for yourself now."

"I sound like my mom," she laughed to herself. For some reason, she found that was the funniest thing, and she started hysterically laughing to herself. I'm going crazy, was her last thought before darkness enveloped her.

-

A/N: So Ana has kinda gone insane... but goodness, the amount of drama in this is pretty ridiculous too. Probably equals a season of Gossip Girl already. I thought that was impossible, but I guess not.

Wow, I went off topic. Not too pleased with this chapter, but I've completely ignored the plan for this story, so I'm basically winging it from this point on. I'll be having fun with that.

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all have fun opening your presents, because I sure will :)